The Blessed Six
by Wolf of the Crescent Moon
Summary: How the west was won...again.


Blessed Six

At the scene of the supposed battle Kurt stood there letting the desert wind blow his long hair in the wind. He couldn't believe that another battle had come and gone and in such a manner. Washington was not going to let this go unpunished. The sun was setting and the fires of the governments mechanical speerdon units was about the only thing that would be lighting the desert in about another half hour.

Kurt reloaded his guns and walked over to the camp set up. "I need to get going, can I leave this place in your charge gents?" he asked the two lieutenants in charge of moving bodies of the injured from the battlefield back to the medical tent.

"Yes sir, we need further orders though? What do we do if they return with reinforcements? How will we hold them off?" one asked Kurt.

"If they return you won't need to worry about that."

"How will we know? It'll be night time and the nearest field scanners are over fifty miles away. The only reason we won was because of your miracle and the sunlight. We can't fight a night time battle."

"I said you won't have to worry. Isn't that right Daniel?" Kurt asked as a new figured walked out of the shrubs."

"One mile line just you asked. The line is a quarter a mile off from here. Took me the rest of the day. One trigger and that should be plenty warning." Daniel said

"I've also rigged this base camp with explosives." he said.

At this one of the lieutenants made an expression of utter shock and threw his hands up in the air.

"You what?! Explosives at this camp? Who has the trigger?!" he yelled.

"Hopefully you do now. The first line of explosives won't be enough to completely finish them off so while you evacuate you detonate this when they reach base camp." Daniel concluded.

Looking at the sun Kurt motioned for Daniel to come.

"It's like this, when they are coming you'll see an explosion that will light up the night sky like the fourth of July. That's how you'll know they're coming, and it will be at that point that you high-tail it for the mountains and put as much distance between them and here as possible. Hunker down in the Rockies until you hear any further orders from secure sectors. They won't make the pass because they don't like mountain warfare." Kurt said mounting his horse.

"Nevada's all but spent at this point. If we have any chance of victory against the United States it'll be in this last upcoming battle. If we win they'll have to retire the war, but if we loose, we'll be divided and every state will be punished accordingly." Kurt said to Daniel as the two took off riding.

_The year is 2050 and after a general election of the first Artificial intelligent president the we seceded. The south tried the same thing in 1860 and failed. Here's why we must win, the former United States are almost all machine now. The humans living in and around the remaining 38 states will not rest until they defeat us and restore their precious union. _

_They're all machine hybrids and we didn't like that, so the west broke away. I suppose we've regressed in some ways, we are more like the days of the old west really. 1870's and 80's. Of course we've got updated weapons but we can't rely on technology without it turning on us. So we use horses, do things by hand, all that stuff. _

_We were worried about their planes but thankfully since they don't trust technology other than themselves they've destroyed all other computer devices they don't control directly. They can't handle high altitudes either so planes are out of the question. The problem is that they are stronger, faster, and more skilled than a normal human. In fact a normal human would be slaughtered by them in 5-6 seconds._

_That's where we come in. We're in charge of this revolt. The blessed six we're called; humans that excel at what they don't. Being human, we're the best of the best and we lead this rag tag army against them. Everything is going into this last battle to take place in Texas as that's our easternmost front. We've fought tooth and nail to maintain a strong border, but an army had managed to get past our lines and was currently waging war in Nevada. I had been called out to fight and I took Daniel one of the six the explosives expert with me. _

_Fortunately we managed to drive them back to their original camp, but there were at least 60 more waiting. I'd have to trust them to Travis and Randy. Travis was perhaps the oddest bunch out of us. He was our blade expert excelling in hand to hand combat stuff. He was as fast as any gun I'd ever fired, and he fought for nothing more than to kill me when this was over. Our duel was prolonged by Washington DC and the rest of the US attacking. _

_Randy was on the quiet side but he had a killing personality. We busted him out of a prison to fight on our side. He was one of the originals to be mechanized. He wields a huge seven foot mallet and can sense heat. He smashes anything that opposes him and more. The two would have to deal with the sixty then ride south to meet with us and eventually move to Texas. _

_I would help them but me and Daniel had to split at this point to head separate directions. I had a minor skirmish to deal with on the Wyoming border. They were short handed up there and about to lose a front so I needed to head to help them. _

_Daniel needed to find Morgan since we hadn't heard from him in a while. Last seen somewhere down in Colorado trying to fight off a squad by himself. Zach was the only one of us successful on any major scale. He was currently heading up the Texas front trying to defend it, it wasn't an easy job by any means. Right now I have to ride...and fast. _Thought Kurt.

The scene was quiet. It had been six hours since Kurt and Daniel had left and all the remaining two hundred mean were resting. At least 70 had been injured badly. Lieutenant Rex looked and saw what he feared most.

An explosion lit up the sky and robotic screams could be heard.

"Alright men! Suit up and move! We flee to the hills get every man on a horse or wagon and move. Squad A set up a defensive perimeter Squad B move the injured and equipment towards the hills!" Rex yelled. Something was wrong though, the troops should have been delayed by the explosion, but Rex could see several pairs of red eyes coming at them from the distance.

They didn't flinch! The explosion had probably only taken a couple out at most!

"Crap! Tyler get ten more sharp-shooters and ride out with me. We need to buy these men some time." Rex said.

Tyler took off running through camp.

Lieutenant Rex looked at Lieutenant Rooker and said "You're going to get these men gone. Me and the ten won't survive we're buying you time so get. I can't detonate camp until you're gone." he said shoving Rooker towards a horse.

Rex, Tyler, and the others rode out fast, they'd be riding to the scatter plot section as they called em. A section of the desert that had dozens of rocks big enough for cover that they could fire from hoping th halt the Speerdons.

They reached it and the speerdon army estimated 55 strong was running full force. Rex and the others moved behind the rocks and spread out. With guns going off the speerdon still didn't flinch. A couple fell dead, but the human juggernauts kept coming.

"They won't back down! Men fire everything you've got! Hit as many as you can. We have to buy Rooker at least ten more minutes." Rex yelled as the gunshots from their rifles became more rapid. A could more speerdon fell but they were within a football field's length of the men now.

"God, if you're out there I sure could use a miracle here..." Rex prayed to himself. He had never been the religious type but now it was looking mighty appealing as it does to most when they're facing death.

They were thirty yards away now and enclosing. Rex had five shots left and the group had only taken down five at most...those buggers were good at reading bullet trajectories and dodging. He fired now more desperate until only a click from an empty rifle could be heard. The rest of the men were in the same shape. Out of ammo and fifty speerdon descending on them. Speerdon didn't usually show any mercy they just ripped organs out or tore limbs off and threw soldiers in their way out of their way.

Every man raised his fists or drew a knife preparing to fight to the bitter end. That's how the west was won and how it would be re-won if this war would end in their favor.

The ten weren't giving them any more room to gain they charged now with whatever they had. Separated by just ten yards now a couple speerdon leapt into the air and came down upon the men kicking throats in, breaking limbs that thing. Four men were dead instantly The five speerdon that had leapt moved in the remainder of men.

Tyler swiped his knife in a furry but in the end got his skull bashed in.

"Well this is it. Come and get it!" Rex yelled kicking a speerdon down. It grabbed his leg and threw him back five feet. He rose and ran and lunge punched the speerdon who went down with him. The five who leapt first moved the men still alive into a circle. There were only three of us left. The other two had broken limbs and were badly bruised. The speerdon sent ten of the main group onward to chase the others.

The other forty surrounded us three and were laughing.

"Have you got any last words?" one asked stepping forward.

Rex looked over and saw the ten reaching camp and smirked as he raised a detonator.

"Boom." he said pushing the button and watching the ten be blown to bits. Daniel had done a good job, and this time he got every one of the God-damned things.

The lead speerdon growled and ran forward grabbing Rex's throat and holding him in the air. "You think that's it? There's still forty of us! As soon we catch your group we'll head to another weak area over to the east and then one of your posts will be hit from two sides! Your group won't last and we'll infiltrate more soldiers to the west! You plain humans always were so cocky. I hope you're ready to meet your maker and find out why he flawed with you." said the leader.

His hand was clenching tighter around Rex's throat and Rex's vision was getting fuzzy.

He must have been getting delusional because he saw a fast moving shadow out of the corner of his eye moving rapidly for the speerdon holding him.

A bright red coat and short cut brown hair, these belonged to one man. A flash of light was seen for a split second, then he felt himself falling.

"We're cocky? I think you've underestimated your enemy here. You don't think they'd send out ten men unaccompanied did you?" said a voice as cocky as ever. The voice belonged to the samurai Travis. He had made it just in time to save Rex's worthless hide.

"One man for 39 of us? You're joking. You'll be dead in the amount of time it would take to do basic addition." said a speerdon. That particular speerdon as well as three unfortunate others that were nearby had the pleasure of being smashed to their doom.

A huge hammer knocked the four into the side of a nearby boulder crushing their chests. Sorry bou that. Me hamma musta slipped. An I'm no mathmetician but your numers seem to be a bit off now. Ya see its really two men against 35 of your robot kind." said the Irish cyborg Randy. The two had shown up at the final second. They began to fight and smash and what a fight it was! Rex had never seen any of the blessed six in action by themselves before.

Every speerdon seemed two steps behind Travis as he swerved, ducked, did back flips, and sliced open several. One or two would climb on Randy (a fairly big boy) and he'd yank em off throw em to the ground and smash their heads in with his hammer.

The two were pros, no wonder they were called blessed fighters. In an hour and a half the two had wiped the entire group of speerdon clean.

"Phew, they pud up quite a fight when they know they're going to dey." Randy said.

"Yes quite formidable under any circumstances, but they're programed now you know that don't you?" Travis said wiping the blood off his sword and sheathing it.

Well as much blood that was in a speerdon, they drain all the blood and repump a new liquid through the body capable of running all the mechanical parts and sustaining the remaining flesh parts of them.

Looking at Rex, Travis walked over and picked him up off the ground.

"Can you get these two men back to where your army retreated?"

"Yeah, we still have our horses behind those rocks over there." Rex replied rubbing his throat. It was still sore.

"By now your probably half a day behind Kurt and Daniel. They rode out of here not too long ago. I don't now where they were heading, but it seemed like they had important destinations and meeting times like always." Rex said carrying one of the two injured men back to the horses.

"Bury your dead, say your prayers and meet up with the retreated army. Those are your orders." Travis said turning to walk back towards his own horse. Randy joined him and the two had their own destinations to make off too.

"Did yeh see that one speerdon separate from theh rest?" Randy asked.

"Yeah...he had no flesh. He was a full machine...this means that Washington's plan all along was to enslave its people and make them into mechanical soldiers. The United States of America we once knew will never be ever again. The so called President has control over all speerdon. During the surgery they must stick some chip into the brain." Travis concluded as the two trotted off to the south.

"Where do we head now?" Randy asked.

"That is simple, Washington gave up on Alaska because its too cold for the speerdon. So they've also seceded and joined Canada. I hear that Mexico is also having trouble with speerdon. Their armies are no match and America has invaded them for the resources. If Mexico loses that will give America another place to attack us from. You will head down south into Mexico and aid them in any way you can. They're fighting a naval battle to take over Veracruz right now. They're already on the beaches and that's the last I heard. If they can make it into Veracruz they have direct access to Mexico City. A swift blow to the Capital and its over." Travis instructed Randy further.

"Ok, I'm off, but where will you go?"

"I've got to head off towards San Fransico. They're fending off an attack of a couple thousand speerdon from Hawaii. Hawaii put all they had into attacking us from the rear and so if we can smash them in this battle we won't have to worry about them again for a long time." Travis said.

"Godspeed then."

"If God exists then he'll side with his original creations not these mechanical demons." Travis said and split off heading southwest.

Randy himself was heading south east. He had to be in Mexico in two days it would be a hard ride and he'd have to switch horses many times.

Fortunetely since he himself was a speerdon he didn't need to sleep...he couldn't. His sole reason for this war was revenge for what they stole from him.

_I'll slaughter any person who stands in my way. Doctor Karson...the mad man who forced this miserable shell upon my soul. If I ever see him...I'll smash him with everything I have for cold blooded killsake. That'll prove I'm still human...machines possess no hate, on the flip side...I hate every one of them._ Randy thought to himself as he rode.

The sun rose in the sky slowly as Morgan awoke. Day five in his current fight with these stupid things. They were still looking for him, but they wouldn't get close to him. He was the best at what he did.

"Little closer...gotcha." Morgan whispered as his sniper went off again. The silencer rattled keeping the sound muttered and another speerdon fell to its doom.

They didn't stand a chance in this climate. He was just above they're range at 15,000 feet. They stop at 14,800. They can't function after that so they were shooting random spots on the cliffs above them trying to find Morgan.

"That leaves thirty...geez being a sniper is hard. Its so slow and time consuming."

Morgan pulled out another chicken wing from his pocket and began to eat it.

_Good thing these robots can't smell anything._ he laughed at the thought.

He fired two more times taking the number down to twenty eight. They were getting smarter though finding cover of their own. Nothing could hide form Morgan thought. He had the best eyes in the west.

As the day drug on he lowered the number to ten and they still weren't retreating.

"Wonder why they're so stupid?" Morgan asked himself.

It was then that a bullet hit his cloak and made him twitch slightly. He didn't know where that one had come from! No speerdon had got within five feet of him and he kept moving! How would one get so close to him?

He looked and then he saw one speerdon was different. Entirely chrome, the sun shone off its skin.

"New model? There's no flesh on it at all...it must be entirely machine!" Morgan whispered to himself.

He fired at it and the bullet bounced off harmlessly. This new model looked directly at his spot and before he could change positions it unloaded a clip on him. His cloak deflected all the bullets, but now all the speerdon had caught on. Morgan couldn't move and he couldn't take out any more from this position.

"I've got one choice then. I'll have to throw my cloak forward and fly downward taking out the nine with my magnum. The problem of course is there are ten counting that new model..." Morgan said.

_Oh well shoot first plan later. That's my motto, it hasn't killed me yet so I'll go with it...I'll have to be extremely accurate in order to smoke these machines though. One shot missed and that leaves two to deal with afterward. _Morgan realized.

He wrapped his cloak in front of him and slid his goggles down over his eyes. He was two hundred feet above them so in his descent he'd have to hit all of them then kick off the wall and roll to survive.

_I've done worse..._Morgan thought to himself picturing riskier situations. He got up as they pounded his cloak with gunfire. He merely stepped off the cliff and let his weight carry him down.

They weren't very accurate as he flew down at record speed. Morgan raised his magnum and fired three successful shots each hitting their mark. He never was a close range fighter, all his life he'd been about killing his opponents from a distance. Better chance at living that way.

He rebounded off a ledge to move further left taking two more shots each hitting their marks, in the chest or head.

"Bring him down!" the fully mechanical speerdon yelled firing its gun directly at Morgan.

He shot another two shots and had one more to go. Looking for it he found it was right next to the new speerdon model. It's vitals were blocked so the last shot would be wasted if fired directly.

"Smart thinking. Unfortunately you underestimate me." Morgan said firing the last shot. It was a richochet shot off the chrome speerdon's neck into the other ones head.

Morgan kicked off the cliff and rolled forward in doing so he reloaded his magnum and stood all in a total of a second and a half.

His gun was pointed at the full chrome speerdon who merely smiled and said "You've wasted five days of your time only to be killed by me."

"I don't think any days I can kill at least one of your kind is a waste. Oh, and don't count you eggs before they hatch. I will kill you." Morgan said as he fired all nine shots at every vital point he could think of looking for a weakness.

"Looks like you figured it out. I am bullet proof from all angles. It seems you counted your eggs before they hatched. Morgan I hope your God is ready for you. Your cloak may be bullet proof, but it is not blade proof I assure you." the speerdon said running at Morgan full speed.

Not having much time to react Morgan reloaded his magnum and fired at the speerdon's legs hoping to slow it down. He had no way of escape though. To climb the wall would take too long and to run left or right he'd be outrun and cut down.

When this clip was empty as well Morgan realized now he was out of ammo. He put his magnum away and pulled his sniper out in an attempt to use it as a melee weapon. His chances were slim he realized but he would fight to the end.

As he swung the butt of his sniper the speerdon jumped and came down with a short sword.

Morgan raised his rifle to block and did so barely in time. He leapt back to put distance between the two; however, that plan was worthless. The speerdon just closed the gap with a quick thrust and Morgan had to move to the left against the wall.

The speerdon had him now as it moved to entrap him against the wall. Holding the end of his sniper ready for one last charge Morgan leapt off the wall into the air and was coming down with the sniper. The speerdon was a step ahead of him and as he swung the butt of the rifle the speerdon caught it and yanked it along with him down to the ground.

Morgan moved to pull out his magnum and swing that at this things leg but the speerdon held its blade to his throat.

"Well damn this is a fine stew I got myself into..." Morgan said.

"Sorry, you blessed six are no match for a fully mechanical speerdon. We're mass converting right now to be ready for a final battle to smash through your forces. What will you do when bullets don't work?"

"We'll probably just start blowing your kind to kingdom come." a voice said and a bomb flew at the speerdon and stuck to its arm. Morgan gasped and pulled himself under his cloak. The pressure from the explosion pushed himself into the ground hard. The speerdon flew thirty feet back and lost an arm.

It looked over, saw Daniel, and before it could move Daniel pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher he was holding. The grenade flew forward, this time it landed on the speerdon's head.

He struggled to get it off but it stuck with unbelievable force then detonated finishing the speerdon off once and for all.

Daniel walked over and helped Morgan up. He was buried in at least half a foot of dirt from that explosion.

"Geez you cut it kind of close didn't ya?" Morgan asked.

"You don't have much room to talk taking on 30 speerdon by yourself. Five days of nonstop battle. Your body will have taken damage from that you know. Nearest town's a couple of miles north. We need to get there before sundown. It gets cold here as you know. I'm sure your body needs a good soaking in some hot water too. It'd be a miracle if you can still move after all this stress on your body.

"I'll make it, besides if this one gives out I'll just go get a mechanical body." Morgan said sarcastically.

"That's not the least bit funny." Daniel said as the two walked north.

Kurt was tired he had been riding three days almost nonstop. It was raining and he miserable. Each drop of rain seemed to raise his misery level by some percentage. His brown leather coat and hat were soaked. His horse seemed not to be liking the rain all to much either. The trail had long since turned to mud.

He had made it across the mountains thankfully but he he still had a couple more hours of riding until he reached Fort Laramie. Once he was there he'd find a hotel to stay in and grab some grub. The battle front was in a place called Torrington. It was one of the places that was in a middle of nowhere yet a battle had torn out in that area for no reason other than the speerdon calculations said it'd be a valuable strategic spot.

They were partially right, it was open plains really. Right before you hit mountains it's kind of flat in this particular area. It's just outside of the Laramie Mountains and right on the Glendo Res river. The speerdon would not allow us to rest constantly pouring fresh troops into the battle every week.

The United States couldn't do this too often though because the speerdon were not mindless machines...well now they were...but they were still limited by their population.

People if you could still call them that would have to reproduce...they had accelerated growth so a child could reach age twelve in six years, but the minimum age to have machine parts implanted was twelve.

Exhausted as he was Kurt knew he would not sleep well tonight. These battles were killing him...on the inside it was one after another. He lost some he won some, but it was always tearing him to pieces. He didn't know how Travis and the others were feeling, but chances were they weren't much better off than he was.

His mind was always at week scanning terrain, coming up with new formations and strategy, focusing on his own battle technique and how to improve his own fights. It was not uncommon for him to lie down in a bed and not sleep the entire night. He'd just get up the next morning and shake it off, another piece of him gone.

With the sun down it was much colder; however, the rain had stopped which had helped some. Kurt had stopped and changed into some more dry clothes and had put his coat and hat on the top of his pack on the back of the horse so they'd dry. He rode into Fort Laramie wearing black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. As he rode up to the gate he looked to the guards on the outside. They recognized him instantly.

"Sir! We had no clue you were going to show up tonight! We're so sorry we didn't follow protocol at-"

"Yeah yeah, look I'm sorry but I've been riding for three days straight out of Nevada. I need a room and some grub...can you just open the gate?" Kurt asked with a tone of irritation.

"Sure thing sir. Might you be heading out to finish off the speerdon in Torrington once and for all?" one guard asked.

"I intend to head that way tomorrow...I dunno how much good I'll do, but I can try." Kurt said warily.

"Well sir they need you badly." said the other guard as he opened the door.

Kurt rode in and down the muddy rode. He found a restaurant/hotel and tied his horse to the bar outside. Walking through the double doors he sat down at the bar. The cook looked mighty happy to see him.

"Hey you're-"

"Not now please. I don't want attention. I just need a quiet meal and some booze then a place to sleep." Kurt said.

"Of course sir. My apologies, what can I get you tonight?" asked the cook.

"Just a nice hot bowl of beef stew, and a glass of lemonade."

"Sir...your booze?"

"Thanks, I was hoping you'd correct me. Scotch on the rocks, leave the bottle." Kurt said smiling for the first time in three days.

A woman was singing on the stage. She had shorter brown hair and seemed to be a tad off what the piano behind her was playing, but no one seemed to care. Her song was one of the future. She was obviously hoping for a victory on the human side. Once the war was over she was saying she was going to start touring again, but for now this stage was her home.

"Excuse me who is that on stage singing?" Kurt ask the cook as he brought over his food and drink.

"That theres Larissa. She sings here regularly to entertain the crowd. She's pretty friendly, just don't make any shovenist jokes around her or she'll hog tie you and leave you in the closet to die." said the cook laughing to himself.

"Right, well I'll try to hold them in." said Kurt as he started to eat.

The final song she sang was a slow low song about riding through the mountains. The heavy metal guitar in the background didn't seem to match but it was her choice of instruments. This Larissa was an interesting character thus far, but Kurt needed to get some sleep now.

As he ascended the stairs to the room the cook gave him for the night he felt a sense of dread...he couldn't place it, but he felt something very wrong was occurring elsewhere.

Kurt was never wrong when these gut feelings hit him. He was too tired to do anything else though but go to bed. He closed the door behind him and stripped down to his undershirt and boxers and climbed into bed putting his guns on the nightstand next to him.

If someone was going to kill him in his sleep it wouldn't have been the first time. He was ready in case someone tried such a stunt.

The last thought that crossed Kurt's mind before he drifted off to sleep was that his town was fortified good in case of attack...

Darkness danced around town and slowly everyone went to bed. A few night owls stayed awake to do odd tasks. The man that stayed in his office to do papers, the woman who couldn't put down that new book, a child scared of the monster in his closet...they were a minority of the night. Everyone else but the guards would descend into a slumber.

It was around four when the man rode up on his horse to the guards. He was bloodied up, missing his left arm and had an eye gouged out. That he had made it this far was nothing short of a miracle.

He fell off his horse twenty feet from the gate and the guards ran forward to help the poor man. He uttered a few words "...line...they broke...target here...one hour..."

Those would be his last words as he died shortly after. No one would know if it was blood loss, the pain, or some other internal injury, but the certain thing was he was no longer feeling any of those things.

"Sound the alarm. Go! Go now and hurry up!" said one of the guards to the other.

He ran inside and rang a bell the town alarm system was a series of bells, and any time went off they'd light a massive torch and another bell would ring. There were five stations like this four on each corner of the fort, and one in the middle.

Lights were lit all over town as people rushed to the streets. The PA came on "Attention citizens. This is a new alert, the Torrington line has fallen, the speerdon are heading here and will do so in an hour.

Kurt shot out of bed and threw his clothes on. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! Torrington was a perfect stalemate. Neither side could win because it was right on the river. The speerdon couldn't cross the river and neither side had gained more than a quarter of a mile at a time since the battle began three months ago.

_What gave the speerdon the ability to move forward. What gave them their edge to push our side to surrender and retreat?_ Kurt asked himself.

He threw on his gun belt and ran out the door and down the stairs. As he got to the streets the militia the fort had was assembling.

They were scared, these were men that weren't front line material. The idiot in charge had chosen to take the best to the front line and leave these men behind and call them "back up". They didn't take the full time it took to train soldiers.

Dang it...that idiot's laziness would be the death of us all.

Kurt saw the lieutenant in charge and ran up to him.

"Why weren't you on the front lines?!" Kurt yelled in front of everyone.

"Get your hands off me! Guards arrest this gravy sucking pig immediately!"

The guards didn't move an inch. They knew who Kurt was and they weren't going to make a move on him in the least.

The lieutenant seemed to finally realize who had a hold of him because he finally shut up and his eyes went wide.

"Where is colonel Chester?! And explain why you abandoned your post to retreat here!" Kurt yelled shaking him.

"I...I was getting supplies for the troops."

"That's absolute crap coming out of your mouth! You know good and well that a supply train runs to Torrington every Monday there is no way you came here for that! I think-" Kurt stopped as he looked down and noticed a big sack tied to the man's belt.

"What's that?" Kurt asked yanking it off the mans belt.

"That is..the money colonel gave me to buy supplies." said the lieutenant.

"Wrong again scum. Tell me since when does the colonel pay in UNITED STATES CURRENCY?!" Kurt yelled even louder throwing the lieutenant off the stage. He landed in the mud and Kurt looked down at him with a stare that'd send a shiver down Satan's spine.

The lieutenant was up on his feet in an instant with almost super human strength he lifted a bench bolted to one of the sidewalks.

Kurt didn't move a finger he just watched. The rest of the militia and townspeople within eye sight screamed or ducked or ran for cover.

"Don't you get it Kurt?! We can't fight them! A couple of days ago they brought in the full machine speerdon. They're new models, not a single bit of flesh left anywhere on their bodies. They have a near impenetrable skin and they're even stronger and faster than the old models. Plus they've taken away the water limitation. A few more upgrades and who knows whats next. Air travel? Mountain exploration? Our only choice we can make it to join them. See the strength? Don't you get it? Yeah sure as soon as I saw the new model I went to them for a deal. They performed the operation in five hours right there on base in Scottsbluff. Then from there I retreated and left Chester and his men weak on the left side. The fools refused to give up and I knew it was only a matter of time until they were smashed." the lieutenant finished.

By the end of his rant he was practically giddy. He looked right at Kurt and yelled

"Don't you get it you idiots?! Join them! You'll follow this man soon to be speerdon if he does so, so I ask you Kurt...will you make the right call to surrender the village?" he asked.

Kurt didn't move, he had his head lowered. It was apparent by the tensing of his muscles that he was not happy. Not even in despair. Infuriated itself was not a strong enough word to describe Kurt.

"I'll kill you." Kurt muttered.

"I'm sorry, was that a yes or no?" the lieutenant asked.

"I said...I'M GONNA KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU GOD FORSAKE CREATIONS! I don't care if it takes the rest of my life or ten generations from now. I'll kill every last speerdon that dares set foot in front of me!" Kurt yelled.

"Peh, typical human response. Well Kurt then I'm afraid I've got no choice but to kill you here and now. I can't have you rallying the town against my brothers on their way. Say hi to Chester for me!" he said laughing.

He hurled the bench at the stage, at Kurt. It all happened in slow motion for Kurt. He remembered Chester...a man who had two granddaughters at home waiting for him. Kurt once talked to Chester before a battle. He asked him

"Sir, what do you intend to do after the war if we win?"

"There is no if Kurt, you'll just fight, you'll fight to your death and that's it. If you stop fighting it will be for one of two reasons. It's because they're dead or your dead. Don't look at this in terms of victory. When they're gone you go back to whatever the heck you were going before the war. Myself, I'll go back and start a garden for my granddaughters so they can wake me up with fresh flowers every morning..." he replied.

When the bench hit the stage breaking into pieces and shooting up dust everywhere Kurt had already made his move.

The dust settled and everyone looked for Kurt. Even the lieutenant couldn't detect him anywhere.

"You can't hide Kurt. It's only a matter of time before I find-"

He was cut off by Kurt cocking his gun to his head. Kurt pulled the trigger three times and instead of falling to the ground dead the lieutenant took all the shots and merely laughed as the gun smoke cleared.

The lieutenant grabbed Kurt by the throat and slammed him into the wooden wall a nearby building. Kurt was indented into the wall with a CRACK.

"See how even a great general of the west was reduced to this?"

Kurt hadn't flinched the entire time. He still held his gun. The lieutenant saw this and tried to jerk it out of his hand.

"Let go! Its pointless to try to use it!"

"It doesn't matter how much I am reduced. What makes me the best is simply this: No matter how great you become, no matter how much you grown in ability...I'LL ALWAYS BE HERE TO SEND YOU TO HELL!" Kurt yelled as he jerked his big gun out of its holster and raised it to the lieutenant's head.

"Guns are no-"

Kurt pulled the trigger and the speerdon's entire head blew off.

"Bigest revolver in existence. Discontinued in 2010 for its impractical power and size. The 600 Nitro Express is the most powerful revolver in existence. It'll blow your freaking head off." Kurt said stepping out of the indentation in the wall.

The crowd was amazed. Kurt had killed a speerdon with one shot.

"That gun was difficult to track down. I had to do business with a swiss gentleman named Mr. Zeliska. He was willing to pass it off for twenty thousand dollars and I obliged him. Firing a .600 caliber rifle bullet there are few things in this world that it wouldn't blow off at point blank range." Kurt said popping his neck back into place.

"How many men in the militia here?" Kurt asked one of the men.

"Five hundred men are in this militia sir. Should be retreat?"

"To where? If we head south to Cheyenne they'll cut us off for sure. The next nearest town is Wheatland and then what would you do? Sacrifice them too? Or do you think that you could make it to the Laramie Mountains and hide away? Two and a half hours ride to the Laramie mountains and you have...a forty minute head start. We stay, they're putting all their force into this charge because this is the nearest military outpost in the area. Then they'll head south to Cheyenne and begin a full scale invasion of Wyoming itself. We stop them here we can re-establish the westernmost defense of Wyoming and not give them any more room." Kurt said.

He walked over to his horse and unloaded his ammo belt which he tied around his waist. He had two hundred bullets packed into this thing and he was ready to use them.

He walked up on stage and addressed the crowd.

"Listen up this is going to be very basic! 100 of you will follow me out front in front of the base. We will set up in the trench there and proceed to prepare for close range fire. They are charging in a blind fury so they don't have anything but a few guns with limited ammo. They will mainly try to get in for close range combat. Don't let them! The other four hundred take your spots behind the wall or on top of the fort itself. Use the three main cannons as often as possible to take out larger numbers. Now go!" Kurt yelled moving the people into position.

Kurt saw something that didn't belong on a male soldier that was marching out. He saw faint outlines of breasts. Kurt walked over and yanked off the hat of the soldier and saw some brown hair fall out of the hat.

"Larissa! What do you think you're doing?! Women and children are heading towards Wheatland and on up into the Laramie Mountains why we hold them off." Kurt said.

"I don't care if you're one of the blessed six! I can fight twenty times better than any man you have employed in this crap-shoot you call a militia. With my twelve gage pump action shotgun I will nail any speerdon that gets remotely close to me." Larissa snapped back at him.

"Good use it in case they catch up to y'all." he said grabbing her by the shoulders.

Larissa jerked out of his grip and put the gun to his stomach.

"Careful where you pointing that, I might just-" he stopped as he grabbed the gun and raised it in the air jerking out his own colt revolver and pointing it at her neck.

"-surprise you. That's why I am one of the blessed six." he whispered.

She responded by forcing the butt of the gun into his stomach. He blocked it but she had already let go of the gun and drawn a knife holding it over a part of his body no man wants a blade over.

"Your kids might pay the price if you choose to continue this." she said smirking.

"I hate kids." again he cut himself off to spin to back fist her and she ducked ready to dead leg him. Kurt leapt back as she kicked and he drew his big gun on her.

He was five feet away and her shot gun was on the ground. All she held was a knife. He wouldn't miss this close, but he wasn't close enough for her to reach.

"I especially kids like yourself who think they're all tough because they get a hit or two in." he said.

He holstered both his guns and turned to leave.

"I'm too busy to deal with the likes of you. Go get yourself killed for all I care." he said walking towards the gate.

She growled and threw her knife into the nearest postal box. It went straight in with little resistance. Picking up her twelve gage she walked back over to her knife and sheathed it.

Randy was facing a different problem at this moment. He stood on a beach watching dozens of Mexicans getting slaughtered. Their army was simply no match for the speerdon. They had already pushed this far and the city was about to fall.

_I can't do everything for them! What the heck am I supposed to do? Every one I smash five more pop up. _Randy thought to himself.

"Yeh vermin need to learn to die and stay dead!" he yelled smashing two more into the ground.

It was then that he saw the trump card of the speerdon.

"Take cover!" he yelled, but it was too late, the ship's main cannons were in full fire now pounding the beach with cannon fire. Scores of Mexicans were wiped from existence and Randy knew if had any hope of helping to win this battle he had to kill those ships.

"God willin I will destroy every last ship in tha fleet." he said running for the water.

His body can't handle water but the beach was full of large pieces of driftwood Mexican boats being destroyed. He ran forward leaping from piece to piece.

One of the ships must have noticed because they directed cannon fire at him. Water exploded all around Randy but he had to keep going!

_Three ships...if I can take them out we'll have a fighting chance! _Randy thought to himself.

Then he saw another thing that made his heart sink. They had a Gatling gun. As it started to spin Randy thought fast and hit a button on his right arm making it vibrate rapidly.

He hit the surface of the water and a wall of water twelve feet high and three feet thick formed in front of Randy blocking the Gatling gun. When the wall lowered Randy wasn't there.

"Where did he go?! He had to be there to make the wall!" the man behind the Gatling gun said to his officer behind him.

"Hi boys." came an Irish accent. With that warning threw the two men off into the sea. He had detached his right arm to distract them while he ran further left and got aboard the ship.

Randy ran inside and looked for the engine room. Running over every speerdon in his way he proceeded down to the room and smashed as much of the engine as he figured he needed to.

He ran up the stairs and out of the ship knowing an explosion was about to take place. He found an inflatable raft kit hanging on the wall. He snatched it as he ran by.

When he got back to the surface he leapt overboard and jerked the cord on the raft. It inflated and he landed on it as the ship engine exploded. The force blew the raft towards the other ship in the middle at record speed. Randy knew when the raft it the ship it'd go under so right before it did he leapt into the air and slammed his mallet into one of the windows on the side of the ship.

After a few minutes of hard climbing he got on deck where a group of speerdon were waiting. They opened and he ran at them full charge shielding with his large mallet. They weren't expecting that which made it easier for him to plow right through them and head into the ship. It was the same process as before, run over any person in his way and damage the engine.

One thing was different on the way out this time and was one of the speerdon got him with a harpoon through his flesh leg. Randy howled in pain as he knelled to pull it out.

The speerdon went to fire a second shot, this time aimed at Randy's head. Randy took a wide swing with his mallet and knocked the speerdon to the ground. He pulled the speer out and then did something a normal human couldn't do. He limped over to the speerdon and yanked off his flesh leg. He screamed but before he ripped it off, he lowered his pain sensors as low as they'd go so he wouldn't pass out from pain.

"This is a featur my body comes wit that yours doesn't cause yeh government is too cheap to pay fur it." Randy said ripping that speerdon's leg off and holding it to his flesh.

It sealed and bleeding stopped and in a few moments Randy had a new fully functional leg. He then threw that speerdon overboard. This boat was close enough that he could leap to the other boat but the explosion of the engine flung him so he didn't get to leap of his own will.

He landed on his back on the other ship. He was bleeding in several areas but he had one more to go. Without these ships the speerdon will be cut off, and the Mexican reinforcements should be able to take them out one by one.

Exhausted and in pain Randy ran down to the engine room again. As he got there though and did some damage someone grabbed him and flung him to the floor. Few people had ever done that to him in his life. So he was stunned someone could bring him down.

As he looked up he saw someone he hadn't seen since his prison days.

"Sheila! What are you doing here?!" he asked about to get up.

Before he could move she held an ax to his neck.

"Sheila...what are you doing? Its me, Randy. We were cell mates...the two first speerdon in existence."

"My memory is clear Randy. You are a traitor to your country and always were. For treason the penalty is death. All those gifts we gave your body and you used them against us." Sheila said coldly.

"Gifts? Gifts you say? They turned our bodies in war machines against our will remember?! They made us monsters for their own experimentation; you hated them just as much as me! What the hecks the matter with you?" Randy said.

"I wouldn't hate anyone who gave me this much power Randy. Its true power to crush opponents whether they're Mexican, or obsolete trash like yourself." she said.

Randy couldn't believe his ears. Sheila had been his cell mate back in prison. They talked of escape together. Sheila had a sister in Montana she'd always talk about going to visit if she escaped. That was the only family she had anymore. When they selected her and Randy for the first subjects they protested with everything they had but eventually were sedated and experimented on.

He wasn't going to have this he'd snap her out of this before he destroyed the ship. He looked to his left and saw a pipe. Sensing much heat from it he punched it hard and it burst spraying steam between the two.

In the confusion he got up and grabbed his mallet. Sheila ran at him with the Ax and swung left. He dodged backwards and this continued as she pressed him against a wall.

"Sheila! Why are you attacking me? Don't you remember your sister you wanted so badly to visit? Now you're a slave to the government you hated to the core?! Why would you side with them?" Randy yelled

"They gave me my power, and I cannot disobey my creators." she replied raising the ax and bringing it down towards Randy. He blocked with his mallet.

_They're controlling her with a chip like the rest of the speerdon. Since I was the first model I wasn't compatible with the chip so it wouldn't work on me...they must have her completely enslaved. And without some major surgery...even if it were possible that chip can't be removed. Sheila has been a slave for all these years._ Randy realized and lowered his mallet.

She used this opportunity to rush him and implant the ax in his stomach. He didn't move, she struck there twice again.

"Sheila I know you can still hear me in there...I'm sorry I left you in the prison break...I wanted to get you but there was no time. I'm sorry you've been a slave all this time, but...but I'll fix it...I promise." Randy said as she hit him in the stomach with the ax again...slower this time. She pulled it out and Randy was on his knees now bleeding from the gut and mouth where he coughed up blood.

"I'm....sorry." he said.

She didn't strike this time, instead tears came out of her eyes. She couldn't say anything, but the government couldn't steal her last bit of humanity. With every bit of strength she had left to resist them...she was crying. That was the only defiance she could offer.

Randy looked up "I know...it'll be okay." he said weakly.

She dropped the ax and stood frozen.

Using this as the opportunity he needed he hurled his hammer into the gear mechanism that ran the engine. The hammer started to grind and sparks flew as the engine tried more and more force to free itself until it reached a point where it couldn't. Randy used his remaining arm to grab Sheila and force her to the ground.

They sat there Sheila crying and Randy closed his eyes.

"Don't worry about your sister...my friends, the other five are fighting their hardest to make sure she'll live on. They'll win this war...and at least now Mexico will be safe...I did my part. So you can stop crying...just stop...." he said reaching up and pushing a button behind his right ear.

When he was built he had one transmitter that went to a wrist band. Whenever the button was pushed it'd send a long wave signal to that wrist band. It was basically the game over signal.

Travis had the wrist band.

Randy watched the sparks fly and he pulled Sheila close and whispered his last words

"It's okay...this is how the west will be won...again."

Right after he said this the engine hit its final heating point from pressure of the hammer and exploded taking the ship, Sheila, and Randy with it to the afterlife.

In San Fransisco Travis was standing over the remains of the last speerdon that was semi alive. The battle had cost him two thousand men of the two thousand thirty he lead to battle. His wrist beeped and he looked down at the wrist band knowing exactly what it meant.

"Sorry Randy...I'm...sorry. I'll avenge you...I'll find Dr. Karson and kill him myself for you..." Travis said. Even he was unable to shed tears at this point.

_War truly is the most God-forsaken event man has ever waged..._Travis thought turning to walk back towards his horse.

Morgan and Daniel were riding for New Mexico. Heading straight south out of Colorado they figured they could make Texas in a couple days for the final battle. Of course no one had sat down and negotiated this to be the final battle; however, it was unofficially decided that whomever won this battle would decide what was to happen to the seceded western states. They'd either be rejoined to the union or made their own country.

This country wasn't made to be torn in two originally. Even when the south seceded in 1860 the north fought to reunite the country. Of course that was under terms that the south wouldn't be turned into cybernetic abominations. Still the north fought hard and eventually rejoined the southern states. This would not follow the same course. The citizens of the west would not surrender even if they were all pushed back to California.

The blessed six would not lay down their arms even if they were turned into speerdon. They'd do what Randy did and fight.

"Hey Morgan where are we stopping tonight if we are?" Daniel asked.

His stomach was growling and Morgan knew that walking for days on end was not his style of living.

"It's getting dark and we need some food. I reckon we're only a couple of miles out of Pagosa Springs. That'd be a good place to stop for the night. We'd have to ride hard the next day to make it to Texas by nightfall though." Morgan said warning Dan.

"S'fine just as long as I can get some food soon." he said as the two rode on.

_The final battle is coming up...if the west has any chance all six of us have to be there. The speerdon as cheap as they are won't attack anything else. They'll simply send all their forces and supplies to crush us on the Texas front. If they can kill the blessed six there the entire west will collapse like a house of cards. _Morgan thought to himself.

The two rode on with the destination of Pagosa Springs in mind.

A couple hundred miles away, Kurt was gritting his teeth. They were within sight now.

_What the heck are they doing? _Kurt asked himself in his mind.

A sole speerdon walked forward. Kurt realized what was happening, he was riding out like a general to talk of the upcoming battle.

Walking out to meet the speerdon Kurt sighed and met him.

"General Kurt...you are renowned in this war for...valor. You've killed scores of my kind. I offer you this one chance to surrender willingly. When this is over you will be turned against everything you stood for. If you surrender willingly we won't implant the chip in your head where we can control you directly. You'll have a body of much greater caliber, and-"

Cutting him off Kurt spat at the ground. "Look, these things you say...you know what they are? They're words...empty words. Now you have two options, you can put your words into actions and take us on in battle, or you can retreat back across our nations line." he said.

"Your nation? Ha what you have here is a few rebellious states. They are like children that need to be disciplined and have their eyes opened. And you will have your eyes opened eventually Kurt. It begins now." he said as a couple speerdon shot out of the ground.

They had extending arms attached with thick cables that could be fired and retracted in a matter of seconds. The two speerdon shot their arms at Kurt but he anticipated their directions and leapt up at one tackling it to the ground.

While the two were falling he pulled out his colt and fired it into the head of the speerdon opposite them. Kurt was kicked by the speerdon he was on and he flew backwards. He landed on his feet and skid backwards a few feet. The speerdon that fell got up and fired its arm. Kurt ducked but this made the speerdon commander run at him. Then the arm that launched did something Kurt didn't expect; it curbed around a tree and punched him behind his knee cap. He buckled and fell with the commander charging him.

Gritting his teeth Kurt muttered "Not good..." and his luck pulled through as he heard the cock of a shotgun. It fired and blew a hole in the chest of the commander. He flew backward and hit a tree...dead. The speerdon with its arm extended turned its index finger into a blade and launched at Larissa.

Kurt stamped his foot on the arm mashing it to the ground, then he turned and fired his colt right into the head of the speerdon that owned that arm.

With the speerdon commander dead the others weren't wasting time. They charge forward and Kurt and Larissa high tailed it back to the temporary wall they'd erected for the one hundred men in the front.

"You owe me." Larissa said as they leapt over the wall just as bullets hit the other side.

"We're even for the knife." Kurt said as he turned and fired a couple shots at the charging speerdon taking two more down.

Noticing something Larissa tapped Kurt on the arm and said "They're still coming. Instead of flinching...they're coming right at us! They refuse to stop." Larissa hissed at him.

"Why? What on earth would drive them to such lengths. There must be fifty of them charging us...weren't there about five hundred at the line in Torrington?" Kurt asked her.

"How the heck should I know?" she said in a dry tone.

"Don't get a mouth with me woman! I'll tie you up and throw you into them hoping just to knock a couple over!" Kurt yelled at her.

"You wouldn't last two seconds against my full fury!" she yelled right back until they were practically in each others faces.

One of the soldiers crawled to Kurt.

"What do we do?" he asked.

Kurt thought for a moment _Well Chester wouldn't have gone down without a fight, surely he took down at least one or two hundred before they broke through...and they have the new models! Of course thats it! They are sending in the old machines first to do the damage and when the front line is wiped out and the gate open the new models will charge in!_

Yelling at the the men on the fort top Kurt told them to hold the cannon fire until they saw a second wave. This seemed to make them more scared but Kurt knew that they'd need the heavy fire for that new skin armor they had. Impervious to most bullets so these men...would be slaughtered. Realizing this Kurt knew the only viable option was to fight the full machines himself. There would be about one hundred...there was no way he could do it. Yet no one else in this rag tag militia was good enough to go toe to toe with a regular speerdon and live...they'd die twice as fast in battle against a full speerdon.

"I gotta go...I gotta head behind this group and-"

Larissa cut him off. "Go where?! You think that you can just abandon us in battle?"

"You don't understand. Behind this group of fifty measly speerdon is one hundred full machine speerdon! It takes the stuff of God's to fight them. It takes a special weapon, a powerful weapon and the knowledge it takes to stay alive. I've gotta go fight them because if I waste my time on these fifty then they'll come in and take over the town." he said rising up.

She jerked him back down "Even you can't fight one hundred Mr. blessed six. Your legends typically give you credit for killing fifty or sixty at most. How do you intend to fair against one hundred machines that are twice as difficult by yourself?" she asked him knowing his answer was something similar to "I'll figure it out."

_Ugh Men! They always rush into situations first without thinking it through! It's why the world is in such shape is because in the past one hundred years women have only been able to fix so much! Now Mr. General here wants to go get himself killed. Geez what does he think this is some kind of movie?!_ She thought angrily to herself.

When she snapped back to reality Kurt had twenty five men on each side of the wall ready to move forward.

"We must stop them before they reach this wall! Men this is your task! Hold them off and take the fight to them. Get as close as you can without entering hand to hand combat. The men of the wall you are simply a second wave. When you notice the numbers in front dwindling rush forward! Do not let them fall below thirty men. If you lose more then that retreat to inside the fort and use the cannons." Kurt yelled as the group charged forward.

They ran forward and found cover in bushes, trees, ditches whatever was nearby and hunkered down to fire. Kurt ran to the left and intended to make a wide ark around the battle.

Kurt ran a few hundred feet and then noticed them. There were only about forty? Where were the others? It was a wide clearing in the forest and they were all in the middle just waiting there.

Then Kurt heard rustling it was all around him.

_They're above! Dang it I got careless running like this. They know exactly where I am._ When this thought was finished three machines came down from the air. Kurt jerked his big gun out and shot threw their chests. He knew they'd make a big ring and force him inward so that his only choice to keep troops from falling on him.

He ran forward at the forty firing at them taking down as many as he could. He pulled out a "Daniel special" and hurled it at them. It detonated and took out five or six.

When he had taken out probably ten or twelve they swarmed him. Like insects they just ran forward and he couldn't fire fast enough. The raised him up and slammed him into the ground. One covered each of his arms and legs. He couldn't move a muscle if he wanted to.

"Well well well...the great Kurt, ensnared in our little trap. You anticipated our actions to a point didn't you? I'm Arthur by the way. Big fan of yours, but I'm afraid my days of being a fan of yours are over. Your title as 'blessed six' is now over. These-" he said holding up some parts Kurt couldn't see directly "-are new units made for quick integration. Biological mechanical units actually. You should be proud that you're our first guinea pig." Arthur said.

"Go ahead, when you do this you're digging your own grave." Kurt said smiling.

"Well once on, these burrow into your system so deep that in thirty minutes you can't remove them without certain death." Arthur said.

"Without further to do..." he said motioning for the speerdon around him to equip him with the parts.

Kurt couldn't fight it, they'd thrown his gun away. They attached metal casings over his arms and legs. It sank down and actually started to burn. They put some type of metal gloves over his hands and they tightened until he couldn't tell the difference between them and his own skin. Then they put the final touch a pair of goggles with built in ear bits. The ear bits drilled into his ears very deep and he felt wires going into his head.

He went deaf for a second...then he heard it all...

The goggles send wires in between his skin and eyes. They were coated with a numbing drug so he couldn't feel them. The goggles suctioned down his eyes so close that he couldn't move his own eyes nor close them.

Then the worst part started. He could hear things in his head. Wind speed, global positioning. He could see differently. Zooming in and out he could see heat too.

They let him up and he shot up like a spring. The metal casings over his arms and legs felt so powerful.

"How's it feel to be a God?" Arthur asked.

"See what you've been missing? All of this is now yours...and fraid in thirty minutes it'll be irreversible." he said.

"So until that thirty minutes is up your primary weapon systems will not be activated."

"I see...prepare to die then." Kurt said running at the first speerdon in sight. He was faster...but in a different way he was not used to. His body was heavier and his reflexes weren't based on what they once were. Everything felt weird and the speerdon easily flipped him over and pinned him to the ground.

Kurt got up, they were toying with him! He tried to fight but they just threw him away like a toy.

"Everything you had that was human is gone. There is no point in trying to rely on old forms of combat." Arthur said not even threatened by Kurt.

Kurt found his gun and he lifted it. His fingers were too big to hold it properly! He knew he'd only be wasting to ammo to try to fire it, let alone hit anything.

Everything got tighter after about fight minutes and he couldn't smell anymore.

"That scent is unnecessary. Use your vision and radar in your head." said Arthur.

Kurt wasn't giving up he ran at Arthur. He knew that he could force his human side through if he just focused hard enough. _Watch him! Read his movements and...punch!_ Kurt thought. Only instead of it landing Arthur smirked and easily dodged the punch and then held a finger in front of Kurt's goggles.

"Why don't you settle down. I think I'll just turn off your mobility until the thirty minutes is up." he said and instantly Kurt went numb. His body was too heavy! The machines must have weight about thirty kilograms each! His physical body wasn't enough to move them without the machines to aid him!

An explosion went off in the woods at the edge of the clearing. The speerdon all left him there. They obviously didn't see him as a threat anymore. He couldn't even move...

Then Kurt saw Larissa standing over him.

"You owe me big now." she said. She was holding two buckets of water. She poured them on him and everything went haywire.

Kurt screamed as the wires and everything retracted. He felt burning pain and he coughed up blood. He kicked and writhed and then he felt his right arm become mobile.

He lay there as the goggles and ear bits were pulled out. Looking up he saw Larissa standing over him.

"Get-" she was cut off by retractable arms snatching her away and pinning her to a tree at the end of the clearing.

They walked over to her thinking Kurt to be unconscious from pain.

"What did you hope to accomplish by nearly electrifying him?" Arthur asked.

"This." said Kurt.

A boom was heard and a speerdon fell dead.

They all turned and saw Kurt remove the last bit of machine from him.

"You'll feel Hell for what I went through." Kurt said inhaling scents from all around him. Kurt fired three more shots killing the speerdon that held Larissa.

Arthur's face changed to one of anger and he started to run at Kurt. He didn't get two feet before his head was blown off.

The rest of the speerdon rushed Kurt as well. He was smarter this time though, and now he had help. There were fifty left in all and Kurt and Larissa each had a powerful gun with plenty of ammo. They pounded the speerdon who couldn't move because they were all bunched together.

"Caught between a rock."

"and a hard place." Larissa finished. The two wore the group down to one speerdon who though realizing defeat ran at Kurt full speed.

Kurt let him get face to face and the speerdon asked "Why...why give up your God-like status?"

Chuckling Kurt just replied "It's much more fun to kick your ass this way." and he let loose a punch from heck uppercutting the speerdon. The speerdon's head flew up and Kurt held his gun to its chest and pulled the trigger.

Kurt turned to limp back towards the fort. Larissa caught up and offered him an arm. He turned it down.

"What are you that stupid that you think I can't help you?!." she yelled.

"No, its just I'm already pretty deep in debt Mrs. One of the reasons I need the west to win is because I maxed out all of my credit cards to the US Government. I don't need to be starting up more debt over here." he said.

Larissa sighed and realized that was as close to a thanks as she was going to get.

The two approached the fort and realized...they had won. A troop ran up to Kurt and said

"Sir! Status is two hundred men dead, but all speerdon eliminated! The blessed six triumphs again!" he said whooping and slapping his knee.

"No soldier...make that blessed seven." Kurt corrected him and walked back to his bed he'd been in just four hours earlier.

He collapsed and thought _God, if I'd remained in that wretched form...I'd have missed sleep the most out of anything._ With that last thought he was asleep in a black haze again.

The next morning Kurt went down to the bar and Larissa wasn't singing this time. He ate some breakfast and then walked out to his horse. He planned to saddle up and head for Texas. At least he'd have to high tail it. Zach couldn't hold onto to that front much longer. Sooner or later the final battle would occur. _That's a day I'm not looking forward to..._ Kurt thought to himself saddling up.

"Leaving so soon?" Larissa asked, she had a horse of her own behind her.

"You must have enough packed to ride for quite a while. Where are you off too?" Kurt asked in a light inquisitive tone.

"As a member of the blessed seven I figure I ought to ride with them and head with them. Or was that utter crap you told that soldier?" she asked frowning.

"Well...ummm I was drunk?" Kurt asked

"I thought that was just natural for men, but I think that was a pretty sobering occasion." she said dryly.

"Where are we going?"

Kurt sighed and wished for one thing as most men often do with women. He wished she didn't have such a good memory.

"We're riding to Texas. One of the blessed si-...seven is there. His name is Zach and he's been holding the Texas fort. We figure that's where the final battle will be as neither one of us can keep this battle up much longer. The west needs to unify as a nation and get started, and the United States need to focus on other things. Ever since they elected an Artificial Intelligence president other nations in the world have set their eyes on the United States. Fortunately the west has the backing of Canada and now Mexico. We'll be left alone." Kurt explained to her.

"Let's go then." she said.

Looking at the gate Kurt new they needed to head south to meet up with Morgan and Daniel if at all possible. And where were Travis and Randy?

The two rode out at full speed heading south for Fort Collins.

Travis had been riding for a day now and realized that he needed more speed. The horse he was riding was wearing down and a horse wouldn't last him. He was in Arizona and the heat was keeping him from riding full speed with his horse. So he headed for Phoenix figuring he'd take a train over to Houston and meet Zach and the others.

_I don't know how to handle Randy...I don't have time to go fetch his body for a burial...and I probably won't until this battle is over._ Travis thought.

The heat beat down on him like a hammer on a nail and he still had a good hour or two until he reached Phoenix. He could make it by train in another day putting him in Texas in two days.

Morgan and Daniel had been walking for the past couple hours when they finally made it to the town of Trinidad.

"Face it Morgan, walking isn't going to get us much further. And we're out of the mountains now. How do you suggest we get to Texas?" Daniel asked.

"Well we don't have any money for horses or a train ticket. What do you suggest we do?" Morgan asked him.

"We're the blessed six we could just take horses or a train ticket." Daniel said.

"You know thats not how we work. We have to earn what we have. That's the way we do our stuff."

"So fine, how do we earn a couple horses?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"We just-"

"Attention citizens! We have a hostage in here. She is the heir to the Dennis ranch them richest family in the west. She's worth millions and we won't rest until we have our demands met!" a voice yelled from the bank in town.

Morgan and Daniel looked up at once.

"Hostage?" Morgan asked.

"Ranch?" Daniel said smiling.

They exchanged glances and ran for the bank.

"We the Sasori family have been on the bottom for decades! Well no more! Unless we get the money we've demanded we will kill this hostage!" the man continued over the loudspeaker.

The sheriff had the bank surrounded with ten men and he couldn't get in. It was a two story bank and Morgan and Daniel ran up to him.

"What's the situation?" Morgan asked.

"Oh thank God the blessed six are here! Well...two. Anyway this family is dirt poor...used to be rich until about fifty years ago the Dennis family started up a family ranch. They were instant millionaires. It seems they started out with some general hostages until they found the current heir to the family. Her name is Opal Dennis and they say she's worth millions. She's a friendly girl who is well likes around here, and rumor has it no one in the world can beat her at a quick draw. She's killed thieves before but they got the jump on her with these hostages first...so no they have her." the sheriff explained.

"Got it, Daniel you find a way in and kill the men on the front floor. I've got the roof where they're holding her." Morgan said running for the store across the street.

Daniel thought about how to get in...then he thought _Well heck I'll just try the front door._

As he walked in he saw no one.

"No guards on the first floor? What are they stupid?" he said laughing.

Thats when the floor started to shake with footsteps and the vault door swung open. Then he came out. He was eight feet high bulging with muscle. He had a bit of drool coming from his bottom lip and he was making idiotic sounds.

"Ohhhh...so they...overlooked the giant here." Daniel said.

"Who you?" he asked with the grammar and voice of an imbecile.

"Oh God...you inbred guys may be stupid but you've got lots of muscle...that's for sure.

"Im...bred. You say I'm stupid!" the giant said.

"Daddy told me kill anyone come in. And now you make mad!" he yelled rushing Daniel.

Daniel stood his ground and pulled his grenade launcher. _No good! All my weapons are more long range! I need distance!_ He thought as the giant threw a punch and Daniel saw stars from left to right.

Morgan counted five men through his scope. He set up carefully and made sure he had all five in his sights. This is where his weapon got cool. He pulled out smaller barrels and added four to his sniper. He then attached four additional scopes. This was something Morgan didn't use very often but this way he could snipe five targets at one. It took all his concentration and skill but he'd never failed yet.

He pulled the trigger, and the gun rocked with a BOOM. The five men fell over almost in unison. Morgan then left his sniper there and prepared to cross over on a wire that connected the two buildings. As he neared the end he lost his balance but leapt for the window. He came through as shattered glass fell all around him.

Looking up Morgan saw all the hostages had looks of horror on their face.

"What? You're all free now. Get up and at it." Morgan said. He noticed one hostage apart from the rest and presumed it to be Opal. He untied her first and then he heard a voice.

"That's why you don't stand by the window." came a voice from behind Morgan. He turned and saw a laser on his heart.

"Well who would have guessed the blessed six would show up? I figured with all the speerdon running around you'd be busy with them. I hear that you sent an unfortunate friend to deal with my son John boy. It seems you both have met your match. Who'd have guessed meeting your match...not on the field of battle but in a place like this." said the bandit.

Morgan whispered to Opal "There's a magnum in my right pocket...I hope your the fast draw everyone says you are because if you aren't were all screwed."

As soon as he finished an explosion rocked the building.

"Now!" Morgan yelled and Opal drew the magnum and fired into the head of the bandit. That bandit fell backwards against the wall and slumped down...dead.

Morgan turned and thanked Opal. The two untied all the hostages and proceeded downstairs slowly. Daniel was a little charred black but otherwise looked fine. There was a bunch of blood and guts everywhere though. Hanging off the walls and ceiling.

"Geez Daniel what happened?" Morgan asked.

"Well he was too big for me to kick his ass so I blew it up instead." Daniel said smiling.

About an hour later the two had a nice meal in their stomaches and were high tailing it into Oklahoma. This detour had cost them a couple hours...and teeth in Daniel's case but they were riding hard now. Everyone was heading for Texas, the final battle was approaching, and not everyone would live to see the end.

Two days after the events of the hostage situation, Zach stood watching trucks across the line. They were gearing up for one last huge battle in Louisiana. Trucks had been coming in all week dropping off Speerdon, supplies, and everything needed to win a battle. His fedora almost blew off in the wind but he caught it and put it back on his head.

His suit was a little dusty for his taste but dirt was the least of his worries. The last battle he'd seen something new...a new model perhaps?

It was impervious to bullets and the only reason that he'd beat them back was by bringing out hundreds of trucks and well...running them over. It had cost him nearly every vehicle he had but he had beat them back.

"Guys...you need to get here now. I need you." he said.

He wasn't without aide though...he had hundreds of Mexican troops across the border at his disposal. It was their thanks for Randy's sacrifice. When they'd heard about his deed they were eager to repay in any way they could.

The final battle had come down to a town right on the east Texas border known as Joaquin.

Zach walked inside the building that was their central operations. He had a map out and his front was two thousand troops strong. Unfortunately the speerdon at last count were over seven thousand.

He was at his limit and there wasn't much more he could do to put off the final battle.

It could be hours...only a couple hours until they attacked and the blessed six...now five were no where to be found.

"I suppose they're setting up bases further west preparing to fall back. When this place falls they'll sweep across Texas and finish off the entire state since all the other places have nearly emptied to come to this place.

Zach had heard that Kurt had successfully beat back the troops that had broken through the Torrington line at Fort Laramie.

_If we are indeed the blessed six we'll need to create a miracle for the entire west._ Zach thought.

Screams and sirens were heard and a man ran into the room.

"General Zach! Its started! They've crossed the line."

"Its too soon! Dang it get the men on the Gatling guns and mow em down! I know that all seven thousand aren't attacking at once. Put the Mexicans on the front line and see how long they last!" Zach yelled.

Zach heard a train whistle as the first two hundred speerdon crossed the line. The so called line was nothing more than a set of train tracks that hadn't been used in fifty years. Now Zach heard a whistle? He must be losing it...but there it was! A train heading straight for the charging speerdon!

The train smashed at least a hundred speerdon before grinding to a stop.

Three men leapt off the train and ran for Zach. Daniel, Morgan, and Travis! They had made it.

Zach ran up to them and yelled

"Your freaking late!"

"Hey we wanted to make an entrance...a nice bang if you will." said Daniel as the entire train exploded taking with it a couple hundred more speerdon.

"Met up in Houston and commandeered a train and rigged it for just this moment." Morgan bragged.

"What is our obstacle?" Travis asked always right to the point.

"Well after that little display? 6700 remain. Ready for the losing battle of the century?" Zach asked.

"Where do we sign?" Morgan asked.

"You just bought yourself three tickets to Hell. I'll be your guide Zach as we head down that way. Morgan get to a high position after loading yourself up with plenty of ammo. You're just going to kill as many as you can. Daniel front line. Your explosives will be good at making them flinch, and Travis...your blade is suited for long distance so..-"

"I'll be guarding Daniel's skin." he sighed.

"Screw you, it'll be the other way around and you know it. Go!"

The three broke off, they each had ear pieces and took their positions.

It all came down to this, and they could not afford to screw it up here.

Morgan took out a speerdon at a time but he had plenty of ammo and it wasn't like anyone would be reaching him anytime soon.

Travis was slicing, dicing, and everything in between with his blade. The speerdon were falling one by one. Daniel blew two to three at a time with each explosive he unleashed. Yet despite all their efforts there were just too many...

After two hours of solid nonstop combat Travis was drenched with sweat and Daniel was running out of bombs. They'd only wore them down to 5000 and now the Mexicans were done and defeated. Travis and Daniel were the only ones left on the front line and they were exhausted.

The next thousand speerdon stood ready to charge. They were a mere football field away and Travis' knees buckled.

"Zach...tell me you got some more Mexicans behind that magic curtain of yours." Daniel said.

"Are the next wave of men ready to go in?!" Zach yelled at his lieutenants.

"Sir we don't have any more front line material? The rest of the soldiers are buried in the ditches firing at random targets. We just don't have any more men to match their numbers.

"Zach they're charging!" Daniel yelled into his ear piece.

"Me and Travis aren't going to last much longer without a ten minute break and more ammo you know!"

"Hang on! Damn it all!" Zach yelled hitting his fist on the desk.

"Sir? You might wanna look out there." said a lieutenant

Travis and Daniel exchanged glances and saw something terrifying.

The thousand speerdon were...merging into something...big. Their parts were combining and growing into something...at least three stories tall.

"What in the Hell..." Daniel asked.

"I believe your American term is...boned." Travis said standing up again.

"That's putting it light."

"Men! I need information what is it?! How high? What weapons? Weak points?" Zach yelled.

When it was finished a giant three legged tripod stood.

"Geez its like something out of war of the worlds." Morgan muttered.

Morgan had fired a couple shots but it wasn't getting through the outer shell.

A voice came over a loud speaker. "Humans! This is your last chance to surrender. From now on we aim for your total annihilation. You have one minute to disarm and acknowledge surrender."

"Uh Zach?"

"Zach?"

"What are your order Zach?"

Zach was flabbergasted but not near enough to admit defeat. Still...his men were out there. His remaining 800 men. He needed more men...he needed to give Travis and Daniel a break. Where the heck was Kurt?!

When the countdown was at ten seconds Zach walked outside with a megaphone.

"Attention speerdon.-"

He was cut off by a couple of missiles hitting the ground between Travis and the speerdon mech.

The explosion caused a blinding light. Zach and even the speerdon mech were both stunned.

A voice came over a megaphone

"Speerdon, here is our decision not as soldiers, or humans, but as the blessed six. If you think we would willingly surrender to you, then your technology only served to lower your intelligence! We of the blessed six deliver you this office message. SUCK IT!" Kurt yelled. He and Larissa were flooring it across the desert in a jeep. They leapt out and the Jeep kept gunning for the mech. It hit and took out one of the legs causing it to stumble and fall over.

"Hey guys miss me?" Kurt asked.

"Not a bit...who's the girl?" Daniel asked.

"This is blessed member number seven. Larissa."

"That's blessed member number six I'm afraid..." Travis said walking over.

"Wh-"

"No time! Listen up. You guys are all that's left. When they reform that tripod you have to bring it down! A combined explosion from that thing on their side could wipe out their entire camp. I saw the number of explosives they loaded into that camp. Your one last goal is to wipe it out. I don't care how." Zach said stepping into the back of his jeep. He had a mounted Gatling gun in the back.

"Zach what are you doing?" Daniel asked.

"Its been a long rough battle. You won't get within 30 yards of it before it blows you to kingdom come. You'll need a diversion." Zach said putting on his sunglasses.

"No Zach, get someone else. We've already lost Randy. We won't fall below six again." Travis said.

"Guys, its been a pleasure...but theres no one left. Its just us. The other soldiers are in the trench and they're hit and miss. This'll be my last ride. Don't ruin it with some stupid tears or words." Zach said.

"It's been an honor...and I'll see you in Hell soon." Kurt said.

"Guys you still got em?" Daniel asked.

They all smiled one last smile and pulled out uniform flasks.

"Never forget. Randy's already down there dancin. No matter what, no matter who dies and who walks away. We'll live as blessed six...we'll die as blessed six." Morgan said walking up.

"For Randy...and for the west." Kurt said and they clinked glasses and drank their last shot of alcohol. As soon as they had drank it they smashed their glasses to the ground.

Zach took off in the jeep and Morgan hunkered down with his sniper right where they were.

Kurt, Larissa, Daniel, and Travis all took off running. The tripod was up again and it was about to fire something terrible. A red beam fired out and completely demolished the spot where they were just at seconds earlier. Daniel and the others were blown forward onto their faces.

"Morgaaaaan!" Daniel yelled looking back.

Travis and the others got him up and Travis slapped him. "Get over it! We all had our drink and now he's dancing with Randy! We've got a job to do and no matter who dies we'll get it done!"

They froze and looked, the tripod was locked onto them and about to fire. Then they heard a Gatling gun starting to rotate and it pounded the side of the tripod violently. Kurt and the others took off running as fast as they could and the green beam fired again just narrowly missing Zach's jeep.

The jeep overturned and spun out of control running into a cactus and finally stopping.

Zach climbed out and held the detached Gatling gun. He started to fire again and Kurt looked over in time to watch the beam fire.

"I'm coming Morgan and Randy...wait for me." Zach said as the beam hit him vaporizing him.

Kurt and the others had reached the tripod but now the remaining 4000 speerdon closed in on them.

Larissa fired first blowing three back as Kurt drew his big gun. These were all full machine speerdon. Kurt and Larissa hunkered down and opened fire. Travis and Daniel made it to the tripod and Travis hoisted Daniel up and he started climbing one of the legs. Some speerdon headed the way and Travis knew he couldn't climb up too.

"Daniel its my turn." he said looking up.

"I understand...I'll be boarding that train myself in a second. I got my ticket strapped to my back." Travis ran into the sheer numbers of speerdon killing as many as he could. Cutting off anything that moved. In the end he knew he'd be on the cutting edge. No speerdon could stand up to him. He could kill twenty, fifty, two hundred...but only God could crush numbers of four thousand and live to tell the tale. In truth Travis was probably trampled...no one knows because after he ran into that crowd of speerdon he was seen again.

Kurt and Larissa looked up and saw Daniel about to enter the inside of the tripod. Daniel lit a flare and Kurt knew what he was going to do. It was the only option left, and Daniel's last greatest bomb he'd been working on since the war began would be big enough to take out three football fields worth of anything.

"Well Larissa this is it. That blast will take out everything around and we need to get to cover." Kurt said.

"How do we get out? There are four thousand speerdon almost at us you know." she asked thumbing shells into her shotgun.

"Do we join the ranks of famous blessed fighters and die with honor?" she asked looking at him.

Kurt looked at her and felt a gust of wind picking up.

"Nope. We sure don't. Legends are born because someone lives on to tell the tale. I accepted you into the blessed fighters and you've proved yourself to be one of us. But in the end the death is only for senior members." Kurt said pulling out a small capsule and sticking it on her.

"That's a remnant of lost technology, it contains the strongest material known to man. Its kind of like a super fireproof blanket and the moment it opens it'll engulf you in seconds. Here's my knife. When you feel the heat disappear from the bomb cut your way out."

"No way Kurt! I'm not gonna be the one to live while you all go off and die deaths you think are honorable. Thats what you men always do! You always leave the women behind when you die! Its so stupid why can't you just live in the end? Why...?" she asked as she started to cry.

"I knew you wouldn't like this idea. Perhaps we men always go off to die honorably...I suppose in the end that's all we men know how to do. As the last blessed fighter you're going to have to lead the west when this battles over. So Ms. President better get to work on your speech. And be sure to put in a good note for us original blessed six. Nothing fancy...just tell a few people the legend of how the west was won again." Kurt said raising his gun and pointing it at the capsule.

"You're all assholes you know that?!" Larissa screamed with all her strength.

"Yeah...its a touch name to take on...but someones gotta do it." Kurt said and fired.

At the same exact time Daniel hit his trigger.

The explosion was humongous and it engulfed way more than three football fields.

It took out the base on the west side and east side. It killed every speerdon there. It could be felt and heard from miles away...Larissa's capsule was blown and engulfed as well...

One Year Later

"Mrs. President? Are you ready for your address to the UN?"

Larissa turned and sighed.

"Yes I suppose I am."

As Larissa took the podium she looked at everyone. She wasn't nervous...she couldn't wait to get back home to the west...but most of all she couldn't wait to tell this story.

"Ladies and Gentlemen...many of you might now how the west was won...well I'm here to tell you how it was won again...by the hands of six men...."


End file.
